明代话本小说中的涉情书写 : 基于“主题模型”的方法论探索

在明清话本小说研究领域，采用“主题模型”的分析方法，对明代话本小说中的涉情叙事进行文本挖掘是一种全新的尝试。分析以量化的方式展现明代话本小说中多种与“情”相关的主题，在利用 “主题模型”的基础上，还结合了文本细读的方法，探究了明代话本小说中涉“情”叙事的具体策略、发展趋势及其与晚明”尚情“思潮的关系。主题模型的分析方法客观地显示了明代话本小说中涉情词汇的应用情况。在“尚情”思潮的影响下，话本小说对于“情”的叙事策略越来越富有技巧性，这体现了创作者与读者潜在的“尚情”心理。

Topic modeling is a text mining tool that can provide new insights into the language of huaben narratives (short- or medium-length stories or novellas written in vernacular language) published in the Ming and Qing dynasties. In this paper, a quantitative analysis discovers a number of computational topics related to the discourse of qing (情, often translated as "Feeling," "sentiment," or "sensibility"). We combine topic modeling with close reading of huaben stories to trace the evolution of narrative techniques and examine the usage of vocabulary during the so-called "cult of qing" in the late Ming Dynasty. We show how the discourse of qing became increasingly specialized and sophisticated, and how this transformation reflected the changes in the sensibilities of both the authors and the readers of huaben stories.